1. Field of the Invention
The present invention falls within the medical field of analysis of tissue and cell samples.
The invention relates in particular to the preservation and storage of such samples.
Within the framework of the medical care of a patient or within the framework of the research, the cell or tissue sampling may be performed for a histological and/or molecular analysis. For preservation purposes, these elements are dehydrated and then stored embedded in paraffin in a support, commonly referred to as “paraffin blocks”. After carrying out the cuts necessary for the histological and/or molecular analysis, the tissue and cell residues embedded in paraffin are stored in order to permit to accede later on to complementary analyses (sometimes years later).
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
Such paraffin blocks are generally formed of a housing made of plastic material having a standard shape, a rectangular parallelepiped shape, the bottom of which is pierced with through-orifices. In addition, one of the sidewalls, generally the front wall, receives unique identification information for the sample, such as a reference. Such a wall may be designed inclined, in order to facilitate the reading of said information.
Several examples of such housings are described in U.S. D448 487 S, U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,246 and GB 2,113,249. Generically, these housings are referred to as “cassettes”.
A detail of FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an exemplary housing or cassette in vertical position, the upper face facing forward. Such a cassette has a height of 41.8 millimeters (mm), for a width of 28.5 mm and a height or thickness of 6.5 mm.
Thus, in such a cassette is deposited the biological sample and it is provisionally closed by a removable cover, which is then removed at the time of embedding into paraffin, the upper face revealing the paraffin, which can subsequently be taken out with the sample it encloses. The cassette and the sampling embedded in paraffin constitute then a paraffin block.
These blocks and the sample preserved in same are listed and stored by various institutions, namely medical analysis laboratories. Legally, their storage is compulsory for each person over a minimum period of ten years for a private company, up to several decades for a public institution or a pharmaceutical industry.
At present, said blocks are ordered and handled manually by operators, who necessarily received no specific training, without any control. Therefore, such a manual management gives rise to errors and a considerable loss of time in their search, up to the detrimental loss of some samples.
Moreover, in this context the quantities of existing blocks are constantly evolving: from about 200 million per year in the 1990's, their number has increased to nearly 400 million per year in 2010 and this growth is estimated at 750 million per year by 2030. Therefore, the storage capacities and the empirical means presently implemented are not designed to support the management of a rational and safe storage for such quantities.
At present, there is no appropriate solution dedicated to the storage and management of such blocks. It should however be noted that other systems for managing medical equipment exist, without therefore being adapted.
US 2007/135965 describes a device for storing medical objects, providing management of the traceability of their use. Such a device is in the form of a cupboard provided with trays or drawers, divided internally into compartments by vertically protruding walls. In particular, these compartments have dimensions that can be adapted by moving said walls, in order to change their respective size depending on the size of the objects they are aimed at receiving.
In addition, this device integrates data-processing means for managing the access to each compartment. In particular, these means permit to read a code on each object and to reference the information related to same. In addition, these management means permit to quickly and easily find, by means of a touch interface providing an accurate graphical display, the compartment in which the object looked for is located.
Another solution is described in WO 99/60982 relating to a housing device with a hinged cover, aimed at receiving drugs in same. In particular, such a housing can be positioned in a drawer provided for this purpose. During their ordering, several housings are positioned side by side in columns and rows. Moreover, a protruding label on the lower face of the bottom of each housing is aimed at cooperating by snapping into a slot provided for in the upper face of the bottom of said drawer. Each housing also comprises internally electronic identification means, which, during their nesting within the drawer, permit to establish a connection and to accurately identify the position of each housing in the drawer.
Yet another solution is described in document US 2001/032035 relating to a tray aimed at being placed in a drawer. Said tray comprises removable inner walls, so as to divide their interior into several compartments, the dimensions of which are adaptable depending on the objects they will receive.
Such systems are thus clearly not adapted to the management of items that are all identical and of small dimensions, such as the paraffin blocks. In addition, the systems of the state of the art do not provide for any particular positioning of the objects, all different and of heterogeneous shapes, they intend to store without taking into consideration the peculiarities of each of them.
In addition, it should be noted that known technologies are implemented to facilitate the identification and the traceability of objects in the medical field. By way of an example, the RFID (for “Radio Frequency Identification”) technology can be used through contiguous chips attached to such objects, ensuring their automatic identification through a wireless reader having a short-range detection field (“Near Field Communication”). Since the reader is connected to a remote data-processing manager, it permits to perform a tracking of the objects used and to manage their supply. An example of such a solution is contemplated through WO 2005/032035.
A similar solution consists in providing a sampling-pipe support, such as a test tube, with a data-processing memory in which can be stored information related to said sampling. It is then no longer necessary to apply the information directly on the sampling tube. An example of such a solution is described in EP 0 706 825.
However, these solutions provide a technology for containing information relating to objects, without therefore ensuring their classification and ordering, in particular for large quantities of identical objects.